diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c8c8e4dcf0a047acc943bfcd02a1707abb854e45..00a0a6df3665fd0be760bb1f867ee9ac55528b80 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -373,8 +373,9 @@ create-update-mr:
     - CREATE_MR=$(gitlab project-merge-request create --remove-source-branch true --project-id ${CI_PROJECT_ID} --source-branch "${UPDATE_SOURCE_BRANCH}" --target-branch "${UPDATE_TARGET_BRANCH}" --title "Update ${UPDATE_TARGET} to ${UPDATE_VERSION}.")
     - IID=${CREATE_MR#* }
 # there seems to be a race condition here: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/353984
-    - sleep 20
-    - gitlab project-merge-request merge --project-id ${CI_PROJECT_ID} --iid ${IID} --merge-when-pipeline-succeeds true
+# disable auto merge for now, need to give the bot maintainer access for that...
+#    - sleep 20
+#    - gitlab project-merge-request merge --project-id ${CI_PROJECT_ID} --iid ${IID} --merge-when-pipeline-succeeds true
     - echo "Merge request ${IID} was created. Merging it on successful build."